Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Feb 16, 2014 2:18 pm Hi All. I'm considering getting rid of a lot of the carpet in my house that is worn, pet + child stained, cheap, nasty and I'm sure bacteria-ridden. Anyway. People keep talking to me about the buzz around bamboo flooring. Seems to be a lot on the market and a lot of options. Thus far, I've heard a few different things relating to how hard/how not hard it is, how durable etc. Some have told me it's harder than some hardwoods. Other have told me it's all a myth and is marketing/magic smarm. Some of the stuff I've read on different forums suggests, as a guideline: 1. Make sure it is strand woven/compressed. 3. Make sure that it is 14mm thick. 4. How many coats of prefinished polyurethane (should be between 10-14 coats). 5. Make sure the warranty is a lengthy one, e.g. 20-30 years. 6. The length of each board should be 1850mm, rather than 950m. Trying to find a good, knowledgeable and sensible place in Brisbane that might be able to help out. Any reputable places versus places one SHOULDN'T buy from? Any bad experiences versus good ones? I also found this, whilst I was ticking around the interwebs: http://bambooflooringreviews.org/ I have to say, it's overwhelmingly negative - so the question is, is this just some lunatic who had a really bad experience with bamboo, or is all of this true? I'm keen on understanding it's tendency to buckle/bubble with water/moisture ingress too. I have had a really bad experience in my home office with some cheap laminate stuff (german made, laser cut – looks like it's from Ikea). It ruined a whole set of board – and when I tried to re-lay them the click-lock system warped quite badly. It'll never be nice and even again! Anyway. Also interested in costs. What is reasonable for just wood? What is a good price fitted/installed? Thanks, all! z Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 2Feb 16, 2014 3:04 pm Bamboo throughout in our place with exception of bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry. Product was Bamboozle (Perth). Easy to clean with a water spray and Enjo Mop. We vaccum first with a conventional hard floor head with no issues to get up pet hair etc. Hard wearing, we have a couple of scratches but that's from doing something stupid. Filled them in with the wax provided and you can't see them. Only thing we don't like is it shows footprints when you walk around bare foot in summer. Those reviews? My guess is they are all from people who put price ahead of quality. The comment about having to declaw your cats and dogs is particularly funny. Looking at some of those pics they are obviously vinyl instead of being bamboo. Also one comment states $6000 for an entire house - that's not top quality bamboo, that's just plain rubbish quality. The best is expensive but worth it. Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 4Feb 16, 2014 5:39 pm You've got to go strand woven, you've got to expect to pay in excess of $10k, ours was $12.5 k two years ago and it's a small house. You need to go to people who've been in business for +5 years minimum and you'll want them to be able to give examples of where they've installed and be able to take you to see examples. You'll also want the installers to be company employees and not just some contractor dragged in off the street. If you go to the bamboozle website they have a very handy list of FAQ's that you could take to potential supliers in Brisbane Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 5Feb 16, 2014 10:43 pm Hi, my parents in law have bamboo floors- I'm not sure of the brand but it was bought from and installed by Harvey Norman. They have had a few dramas over the years with air bubbles- one spot in particular that's worse on hot days. It was glued down, not the click type. It looks amazing and it would be perfect except for that one spot. My sister in law has arc bamboo in coffee and it looks and feels nice. We're getting genesis bamboo in sandy beech in our build... It ticks all the boxes for us. Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 6Feb 17, 2014 6:41 am OK. Thanks for the responses so far. So, are there general rules/guidelines in terms of $/m^2 that one would expect to pay for quality, strand woven, appropriately aged bamboo? -z Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 9Feb 17, 2014 5:41 pm OK. So this is much, much more than the ~$65m^2 I've seen advertised elsewhere. Starting to make sense that one can shop this stuff down to a price, or pay a premium and get a commensurate product. So - how much of this >$100 per m^2 is "name" and "rep" versus how much is a difference in product/quality? z Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 10Feb 17, 2014 9:11 pm Our premium Moso Strand Woven solid bamboo flooring with its licensed Unilin clic profile will be around $100m2 (check your local store for current promotions and pricing for greater accuracy) fully installed with a lifetime structural warranty. Around 10 colours to choose from. Being coated with 10 coats of durable Klump Aluminium Oxide means it also has a 25 year warranty on the coating As Naturally Bamboo is backed by one of Australia's biggest retailers means the warranty actually carries some weight (versus a lifetime warranty from a fly by night importer). It's warrantied by Harvey Norman, no buck passing. That's peace of mind. Just some more info on Bamboo for you too; the huge growth in popularity of bamboo in recent years has seen every man and his dog get into manufacturing it and/or retailing it. Whilst this is a good thing in some respects as it forced prices down by almost 50% in only a short number of years, it has also seen what was originally an almost exclusively quality product, now vary greatly between manufacturers and retailers so the general consumer sees gigantic variations from $35m2 up to over $100m2 for product...so the adage that you get what you pay for is certainly true with this type of floor. The popularity in Australia for bamboo is currently higher per capita than most other western countries and this has attracted even more diversity and variations in products than normal. So you are wise to seek counsel and get some advice from users of this forum. We have a dedicated team that travel the world sourcing and testing products and we seriously believe that our Naturally Bamboo product is equal to if not better than the majority of bamboo offers in the marketplace. In recent years, we have had such success with this brand and with this particular quality supplier that they (our manufacturer) had to install entire new production facilities to keep up with our demand. It's hard to keep enough in stock. A real success story. Pop into your local HN flooring franchise and take a look if you like, or you can PM us with your contact details and we will have your local franchisee contact you if you like. Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 11Feb 17, 2014 10:12 pm Not being a fan of bamboo myself (hardwood for me), what HNFT said makes a lot of sense ( about where you purchase it from) A lifetime warranty means nothing if a small store closes or importer disappears. Hardwood on the other hand........ Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 14Mar 15, 2014 5:24 pm We have a sample from UB Trading http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Strandwoven- ... 461c020e6c in coffee and that starts at $36m2 . You hear this company all over the place an so far we haven't been able to find someone saying anything negative at all! (If you have a bad story about their floors pm me, because we're seriously considering them) We've wacked it full force with a hammer, jumped up and down on the sample in stiletto shoes and submerged the sample in water overnight, end down (samples are fun). The stiletto made no mark, the hammer chipped the coating and left a dent on the third go and the water caused it to warp on the cut end - which dried straight after about 2 weeks. Today is under construction. Thank you for understanding. Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 15Sep 29, 2015 6:44 pm Strand woven is the way to go I have been informed by my friend who has it for a couple of years. He pad $65 per sq m laid. I have similar quote from some who has laid laminated floor for us before. He says mop is fine but spilling lot of liquid is obviously bad 23/06/2014 - Paid deposit 21/07/2014 - ordered the survey and tender 13/08/2014 - soils test sample taken 14/08/2014 - survey done today 30/08/2014 - Pre-color consultant aptmnt Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 16Oct 01, 2015 11:52 pm is embleton a reputable brand? Re: Bamboo floors - give me the good, the bad, the evil! 17Apr 10, 2020 10:30 am di+matt Hi, my parents in law have bamboo floors- I'm not sure of the brand but it was bought from and installed by Harvey Norman. They have had a few dramas over the years with air bubbles- one spot in particular that's worse on hot days. It was glued down, not the click type. It looks amazing and it would be perfect except for that one spot. My sister in law has arc bamboo in coffee and it looks and feels nice. We're getting genesis bamboo in sandy beech in our build... It ticks all the boxes for us. Hi Just wondering how your Genesis bamboo floors are? I’m considering getting them laid but the negative reviews are scaring me. Thanks. You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 17314 do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 29124 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place - I’m new to the property/building journey (trying to buy my first home) so not sure where/who to go with these sorts of… 0 20140 |